Fort Defiance (Gloucester, Massachusetts)
Gloucester · Massachusetts · War of 1812, American Civil War
History & Significance
Fort Defiance occupied Fort Point (also called Watch House Point) in Gloucester, Massachusetts, protecting the inner harbor from 1794 to after 1865. The location had previously held British Fort Anne, built in 1703 for Queen Anne's War and rebuilt in 1743 for King George's War.
When funded by the federal government in 1794, Gloucester selectmen requested the new American fort be constructed on the site of the earlier colonial fortification. Stephen Rochefontaine, a former French military engineer and Revolutionary War veteran, directed construction, assisted by Major John Lillie, possibly the fort's namesake.
Though originally designed to mount eight seacoast guns with a separate citadel, construction was limited after 1795 due to insufficient federal appropriations. The fort was popularly called Fort Lillie until 1814, when it received the official name Fort Defiance during the War of 1812.
By December 1811, the facility consisted of an enclosed battery mounting seven guns and covered by a blockhouse. After the war it entered caretaker status, but maintenance eventually ceased.
The fort burned down in 1833 and was rebuilt in 1851. It was garrisoned during the Civil War.
Abandoned after the Civil War, the federal reservation remained government-owned until the 1920s. No ruins survive.
Key Facts
Map
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Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Defiance_(Massachusetts)
- http://www.northamericanforts.com/East/ma.html
- https://www.fitzhenrylaneonline.org/historical_material/?section=Fort+(The)+and+Fort+Point
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